Consisting of randomly oriented cells with nearly uniform shapes, open cell metal foams are considered to be reliable in heat transfer applications. Numerical tools and experimental tests were applied to assess the thermo‐hydraulic behavior of aluminum metal foam sheet adjacent to the heated wall in role of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell end plate. Convective cooling media passing through the metal foam sheet carries heat being conducted through the plate and metal foam matrix. The plate with constant heat flux is considered to be the heat source in both numerical and experimental approaches. Numerical model was applied for simulation of the metal foam sheet through porous media assumptions. The experimental set up was also assembled to verify the theory. The comparison between the numerical results and experimental data revealed acceptable agreement. The porosity percentage, heat flux, the metal foam sheet height and the coolant media velocity were the investigated variables. Finally, the result showed that the outlet temperature would increase straightly with the porosity percentage decrement. Whilst, on the other hand the pressure drop decreased by porosity enhancement.

中文翻译：

---

开孔金属泡沫作为扩展的冷却液表面–燃料电池应用

开孔金属泡沫由形状几乎均匀的无规孔组成，在传热应用中被认为是可靠的。应用数值工具和实验测试来评估与加热壁相邻的铝泡沫金属板在聚合物电解质膜（PEM）燃料电池端板中的热工行为。穿过金属泡沫片的对流冷却介质携带通过板和金属泡沫基质传导的热量。在数值和实验方法中，具有恒定热通量的板都被认为是热源。通过多孔介质假设，将数值模型用于泡沫金属板的仿真。还组装了实验装置以验证该理论。数值结果与实验数据之间的比较表明可接受的一致性。孔隙率，热通量，泡沫金属板的高度和冷却介质速度是研究的变量。最后，结果表明，随着孔隙率的降低，出口温度将直线上升。另一方面，由于孔隙率的提高，压降降低了。